


Do Not Seek It Without

by Kirrae



Series: Too High A Price [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: BAMF Tony Stark, But I wrote a fic for the first time in forever so I'm posting it damnit, Character Death is mostly implied?, Civil War (Marvel), Especially after this, Female Tony Stark, Gen, I blame the trailer, It gets its own tag because of reasons, Rhodey Feels, Steve Feels, Steve Rogers Has Issues, Steve Rogers Is a Good Bro, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Has Daddy Issues, Tony Stark Is a Good Bro, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, all the feels, because its 3am on Black Friday and I don't care anymore about anything, i have too many feels, liferuiners, use of the words "was it worth it?"
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-27
Updated: 2015-11-27
Packaged: 2018-05-03 14:58:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5295671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kirrae/pseuds/Kirrae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve Rogers and Natasha Stark, the SHRA, The Super Human Civil War.</p><p>Marriage doesn't fix everything.</p><p>“You want to know why we need this Steve? Because we’re not infallible, we’re not perfect."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Do Not Seek It Without

**Author's Note:**

> I had too many Civil War feels before that trailer. Now I’m drowning in them. Send help.
> 
> All relationships are considered friendships, although considering that canon Natasha Stark and Steve Rogers got married, so there's a bit of F/M implied there but I didn't go into it because this fic is not about that. Operating on the premise that they didn't get married though, because saying that solved the SHRA is a bit ridiculous, even for Hickman.
> 
> Natasha Stark got married in her armor, she's gotta be a badass.

_“Don’t get involved in this, you’ll just make it worse.”_

............

_“If we can’t accept any kind of limitations, we’re no better than the bad guys.”_

_“You know, I just can’t see it that way.”_

_“Sometimes I want to punch you in your perfect teeth.”_

* * *

She takes him down to her current lab and puts on the armor. Its the first time he’s seen Natasha in the Iron Man suit since Ultron and its jarring how much better she looks like that, even with the helmet off.

There’s a human torso sculpted out of ballistics gel set up in the testing range on the far side of the lab.

“You want to know why we need this Steve? Because we’re not infallible, we’re not perfect. The first time we met Clint he was used to take down the Helicarrier and almost killed us. Sure that was Loki, but we’re all human. Even Wanda. We can be controlled, misled, manipulated, we can lose our sense of what’s right and what’s wrong because we feel like we can make a difference if we just try harder. But what happens to the people who get caught between us and our problems?”

She raises an arm, palm open, leveled at the ballistics dummy and he hears the repulsor whine as it charges.

“Repulsor power at 100%,” and the whining gets louder. She pulls back her hand and fires.

Gel covers the floor, the walls, even fifty feet away Natasha is flicking gel out of her bangs. All that’s left of the dummy is a ruined thorax, whole from about the last rib down.

“We aren’t ever fighting just the enemy, Steve. We’re fighting ourselves. And the people caught in the crossfire? What did they do to deserve that?”

“We wouldn’t ever-!”

“Sokovia. New York. Gulmira. Afghanistan. The Desert War. I did. I will. The sooner you understand that, the better.”

She takes off the armor and she leaves him facing that ruined dummy.

* * *

Rhodes is unresponsive in Stark’s lap, the faceplate off but Rhodes isn’t breathing. She looks up at him with murder in her eyes.

“I went after your brother so you decided to come after mine?"

He says nothing.

She starts removing the armor from Rhodes’ chest. She’s got half the chestplate off when she looks up at him. She says nothing, just revs her right-hand repulsor and knocks him flat on his back.

"Was it worth it?"

When he gets back up she’s removing the gauntlets from her arms.

“Fuck. FRIDAY, get me an ambulance and see if we can maybe improvize an AED out of some of this. Come on, Rhodey bear don’t do this to me baby.”

She lies him flat on his back and starts pressing down on the center of his chest.

“… three, four, gummydrop don’t do this to me, ten… fifteen, you know I’m a mess without you Jim you can’t leave me… twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, please.”

He’s started running back toward the nearest building, gas station, house anything by the time she seals her mouth over Rhodes’, her lungs working for them both. He needs to get help.

Maybe there’s a way to save this, to save Bucky. Because if they’ve killed an Avenger, there will be no stopping the Registration Act.

He knows it’s too late for Stark. Underneath her counts, her shaky breathing, there is only silence.

 

> _“My dad had a saying, Stark men are made of iron. Stark women never forgive, that was my mother’s.”_

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from a quote often attributed to Gautama Bhudda but is not found in any Bhuddist scripture; “Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”
> 
> I liked it anyway.


End file.
